Hunter Gets Married
by Revvie-S
Summary: Ooh, there really isn't any way to summarize this one! Read the title! Then read the story! This is a substory for a Stargate SG1 category fic, 'Thru A Glass Darkly', FYI


Hunter Gets Married

A Short Story by Samantha Carter

_A/N: Well, here goes nothing! Please, BE KIND to me out there, fellow cyber-authors. My psycho told me I need a creative hobby to help me recover from amnesia. Something about exercising my creativity; it's supposed to help me learn faster. So I am now starting to write fanfiction! Hey. Whatever helps me get back my old job, my old life, is worth a try. I really like the people I work with, especially one certain person, and I am trying so hard to keep my job! _

_Anyway, let's get to the story. Hope you like!_

The tall, strong detective couldn't wait to get to work today. His partner, a pretty, petite female detective with whom he had been working for several years now, had made a bet with him that he couldn't wear a different, clean shirt every day for a week. Today was Friday, and Rick Hunter was wearing yet another new shirt, clean and perfectly pressed.

Dee Dee McCall owed him lunch bigtime.

"Good morning, McCall," Rick called out when he spotted his coworker at the desk they shared. Hunter resisted the urge to obnoxiously point at the freshly laundered shirt he was sporting. He was disappointed by her failure to notice.

"Hunter," she greeted him quietly. She didn't meet his eye and continued to work on a file lying in front of her.

Rick Hunter made sure he was standing fully in her line of vision before clearing his throat and speaking again.

"So, Dee Dee. Everything okay?" His eyes narrowed in concern as he watched her. She was rarely this quiet.

"No, it isn't, and no, I don't want to talk about it."

Drat! She still hadn't even glanced in his direction. He moved closer still, determined to make her notice his well-groomed appearance.

"C'mon, Dee, don't do that. What's wrong?"

"Please, Rick." She finally looked up at him and he saw misery in her eyes. His heart constricted in sympathy for her at the sight. He sat his lanky frame on the edge of her desk. His clean shirt and their bet temporarily forgotten, he reached out and touched her hand.

"Let's go get a cup of coffee," he suggested gently. She nodded and walked with him out of the station.

At a quiet booth at one of their usual haunts, Dee Dee took a long sip of coffee while Rick waited for her to tell him what was bothering her. He had no fear that she would refuse to talk to him. Over the years, they'd been through so much together that their relationship was more like a marriage than some marriages were, even though they had never even kissed. He studied her familiar face as he waited for her to spill whatever was upsetting her, knowing with confidence that she would eventually tell him everything.

"For crying out loud, Dee, what's wrong?"

"It's silly, really. I shouldn't be so bothered by this. I got a wedding invitation in the mail yesterday. My younger cousin is getting married. She's fifteen years younger than me. I am now the only unmarried female in my family. I just never expected to be alone at this point in my life. I guess the invitation just made me realize a few things. I'm thinking about leaving the police force, Rick. I guess I always thought that some day I'd…"

"….have a life?"

Dee Dee smiled with tears in her eyes. "Something like that."

"You know people in the police force do have families. It can be done."

"You know how I feel about that. After my husband was killed, I swore I'd never marry another police officer. I just can't go through that again."

Hunter was silent, watching her face with a wary look. Dee Dee could swear he looked sad. It gave her the encouragement she was looking for to press onward.

"Rick," she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"What about….us?"

"What?"

"If things had been different. If we hadn't had to worry about professional restrictions and all."

"We wouldn't be….here."

Dee Dee nodded submissively as if she understood, but then suddenly looked up with fire in her eyes. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I'll be honest, Dee Dee, I have often wondered whether we'd be good together. I happen to think we'd be great. But then we wouldn't be here, a great team, two people who work together every day and who depend on each other. I don't want to lose what I have with you. You're…important to me. Can't you feel that?"

"Of course, you're very important to me, too. Are you saying the reason you don't want to change our working relationship is for fear of losing what we have right now?"

"Well, I guess when you put it that way….yes."

"You big chicken! Why don't you just ask me? Ask me!"

"Um, okay, Dee Dee."

"Well?"

"Ask you what?"

"Ohhhh! That really fries my egg. Ask me if I want more out of our relationship and ask me what I want to do about it! Never mind, I'll tell you. I love you, Rick Hunter, and I want our relationship to be different. Very different. And I'm willing to leave my job. I'm willing to risk my career to give it a try."

"I thought you didn't want to marry a police officer."

"I didn't think I did. But I've changed. People do that, you know."

"You mean…uh…. Dee Dee, will you marry me?"

"Yes I will."

Hunter smiled widely. Grabbing her hands across the table he stared right into her beloved eyes.

"Works for me."

Dee Dee stared back, openly admiring the man she had grown to respect, admire, and finally, to love with all her heart.

"By the way, is that a clean shirt you're wearing?"

_A/N: Whew! That was so cathartic! Anyway, tell me what you think! Loved it? Hated it? Should I keep writing? Oh I'm so nervous!_


End file.
